News Review #1

“Ryan Lochte charged by Brazilian authorities”

In this article, CNN gives an update on the Rio gas station incident involving Ryan Lochte and three other members of the United States Olympic swim team. It was recently established that Lochte lied about the robbery story as testimonies from the other U.S. swimmers’ accounts conflicted with Lochte’s story and as the surveillance video of the incident was released. The Olympic medalist later admitted that he “over-exaggerated” the events of that night, and this article discussed the breaking news on August 25th as the Brazilian authorities announced that they are pressing charges against the swimmer for “ falsely reporting a crime.”

Why you selected the story: As a lot of criticism was aimed towards Lochte after the conclusion that he lied to Brazilian authorities, many critics began to compare this incident to the Hope Solo incident that also took place in Rio during the Olympics. Solo was suspended from U.S. Women’s National Team for 6 months after calling the Swedish Olympic Women’s soccer team “a bunch of cowards;” many of Lochte’s critics were quick to point out that it was unfair for Solo to receive that punishment while Lochte received no punishment for committing a crime (http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a63282/hope-solo-fired-us-soccer/?src=socialflowTW). I followed this story because I was definitely interested in seeing what (if any) consequences Lochte would receive for his actions after hearing about the harsh punishment that Solo received for what I believe to be a less severe offense; I chose this story because I was immediately intrigued by charges finally being brought against the Olympic swimmer.

How the story used or was treated in social media:

On August 19th on Twitter, Ryan Lochte posted an apology for his behavior and the events surrounding the Rio gas station incident. He has not commented on the charges filed against him on August 25th, 2016

Those following the incident on Twitter started the hashtag #LochteGate when tweeting